Nawaz gets closer to premiership

IHC acquits former premier in Avenfield reference; disposes of NAB appeal in flagship case

ISLAMABAD:

PML-N supreme leader Nawaz Sharif on Wednesday came one step closer to his return to electoral politics and the corridors of power as the capital’s high court exonerated him in one of the two corruption cases—the Avenfield reference—in which the former premier was convicted in 2018.

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) also disposed of an appeal filed by National Accountability Bureau (NAB) against Nawaz’s acquittal in the Flagship reference after the graft buster withdrew the case.

While disqualifying him as a lawmaker in the Panama Papers case in July 2017, the Supreme Court had ordered NAB to file three corruption references against Nawaz Sharif—the Avenfield case, the Flagship case and the Al-Azizia case.

The PML-N leader was acquitted in the Flagship reference but two different accountability courts had convicted and sentenced him in the Avenfield apartments and the Al-Azizia Steel Mills cases respectively in July and December 2018.

Nawaz had later filed appeals against his convictions in the IHC. These appeals were resurrected in October last month when the former premier returned to the country, ending his four-year-long self-imposed exile, to spearhead his party’s campaign for the upcoming elections slated for Feb 8, 2024.

When an IHC division bench comprising Chief Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb resumed hearing the appeals on Wednesday, Nawaz Sharif’s counsel Amjad Parvez presented his arguments on Nawaz’s conviction in the Avenfield case.

Parvez stated that Nawaz was sentenced on the basis of an assumption. The prosecution, he said, could not prove even a single charge against the former premier and failed to clarify whether he paid for the purchase of the Avenfield flats in London or they were in the possession of a ‘benamidar’.

He said the prosecution—NAB—was also required to inform the court about the value of the assets at the time of the declared incomes and had to prove that the accused was a public office holder at that time. He said NAB also had to establish who were his dependents then.

“The Panama Papers case judgment, the joint investigation team (JIT) report, the NAB investigation report, the NAB reference and even the charge framed against Nawaz did not determine the value of Avenfield apartments,” he added.

Parvez said there was no evidence whatsoever that those properties were ever owned by Nawaz, adding that even the JIT head, Wajid Zia, had himself admitted that there was no evidence to prove Nawaz’s links to the properties.

The lawyer highlighted that the IHC in September 2022 had already acquitted Nawaz’s co-accused in the Avenfield case—his daughter Maryam Nawaz and her husband Captain (retd) Safdar. He also read out the court’s order exonerating the co-accused of the charges.

Justice Aurangzeb remarked that the court has stated the conditions that must be met for declaring a person a “benamidar”. If even one of these four conditions are not met, then that person will not be called a benamidar, he added.

The NAB prosecutor told the bench that the accountability watchdog had filed references against Nawaz in the wake of the Supreme Court’s July 2017 order. To this, Justice Aurangzeb remarked that the court understood that NAB was compelled to file the references.

After hearing the arguments, the court accepted Nawaz’s appeal against his conviction in the Avenfield reference. It, however, adjourned hearing the PML-N leader’s appeal against his conviction in the Al-Azizia Steel Mills case.

On July 6, 2018, Islamabad Accountability Court-1 Judge Muhammad Bashir convicted Nawaz in the Avenfield reference after a trial that lasted for nine months and spanned 107 hearings.
‘Justice prevailed’

In a brief interaction with the media after his acquittal, Nawaz Sharif expressed gratitude to God. “Thanks to Allah that justice prevailed today. I had left my affairs to Allah, and today Allah has vindicated me. I am thankful to the Almighty,” he said.

When asked about the PTI’s intra-party elections in which the party chairman, Imran Khan, is not contesting, Nawaz offered a terse comment, saying: “This is the law of nature.”

After his disqualification in July 2017, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had also removed Nawaz Sharif as the PML-N president. The party had later declared him as its supreme leader—Quaid, a ceremonial position with no legal status.

PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif also thanked the Almighty Allah for the justice delivered to his brother. “Thanks to Allah that we’re seeing this day where my leader, elder brother, the party, and the family have been exonerated,” he said.

Shehbaz said his brother was innocent and Allah exonerated him of all the charges. The former prime minister commended Nawaz Sharif's resilience in the face of political adversaries, saying “Even in life's bitterest moments, my leader never lost courage.”

Nawaz’s daughter and the party’s senior vice president, Maryam Nawaz, also hailed the court’s decision in a tweet on X. "How Allah elevates a person in the eyes of the whole world when that person leaves his affairs to Allah is truly exemplary! Praise be to Allah!"